dSLR Dad

The following are some the top 10 articles read by dSLR Dads in 2008:

1. Sigma’s New APO 200-500mm F2.8 Anti-Aircraft Telephoto
2. Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS Lens Test Report
3. Deal of the Year: Get Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Over Half Off!
4. Popular Photography: Nikon D300 vs Canon EOS 40D
5. Canon EOS 5D Mark II dSLR Camera Resource Guide
6. Nikon D90 Digital SLR Resource Guide
7. Nikon D90 D-Movie Mode Shoots Jelly Video
8. Nikon D300 Reviews
9. Red Drops a DSMC Bombshell on the dSLR Market
10. Tips for Photographing Snow

I would like to thank all of you for visiting this site over the past year.  I would also ask that you please cast your vote for the reader’s Choice dSLR Dad Camera of 2008.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Photographer: Frank P. Wartenberg

Nikon USA has published sample images from their new 24.5-Megapixel, FX-format D3x. You too can pixel-peep to your hearts content over at NikonUSA.com. All photographs courtesy of Nikon USA: (more…)

Popularity: 2% [?]

I mentioned Rod Mar before in this blog.  Rod is a Sports Photographer and is covering the 2008 Olympics for the Seattle Times.  His blog, the Best Seat in the House, has provided great insights into how one prepares to capture these events.  In his latest post, The Usain Asylum, Rod details capturing Jamaica’s Usain Bolt breaking Michael Johnson’s 12-year-old world record in the Mens 200 meter final (A record that I thought would stand for at least another decade):

Gotta love this guy.

A photographer’s dream.

Poses before he races.

Poses while he races.

Poses after he races.

Heck, in the prelims, I think he did more posing than racing.

Really. Dude is ridiculous fast, and photogenic to boot.

You can read the rest of the article over  at The Seattle Times.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Heinz Kluetmeier has been a sports photographer for over four decades.  You’ve recently seen his work in my previous post about the series of underwater photos detailing Michael Phelps victorious finish for his 7th Gold.  He is also the photographer of Sports Illustrated’s only Olympic Cover without a caption, the Miracle on Ice Issue.

Richard Deitsch at Sports Illustrated.com interview Mr. Kluetmeier during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Sports Illustrated photographer Heinz Kluetmeier has covered every Olympics for SI (with the exception of Innsbruck) since the Munich Games. He and his assistant, Jeff Kavanaugh, landed the signature sequence of the Olympics: Michael Phelps beating Serbia’s Milorad Cavic to the touchpad in the 100 butterfly. Below, Kluetmeier explains how he got the shot and the difference between Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps as photography subjects. Click here to see the photos.

You can read the entire Q&A with SI’s Heinz Kluetmeier over at SI.com.

Sports Illustrated also has a collection of Heinz Kluetmeier’s own favorite shots.

You can read and view more about Heinz Kluetmeier at his own website and at Getty Images.com.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Now that PMA is over, and we’ve all digested the new gear, it’s now time to actually photograph something. So what I want to know from all of you dSLR Dads is a list of topics that you want covered over the coming weeks.  Just add your own comment below.

What to include:

• Do you have a dSLR?
• How long have you been using it?
• What do you like to photograph?
• What are your Top 5 requests for dSLR Dad?

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I’ve got a great competition for you dSLR Dads if you’ve actually got an HD signal of the Super Bowl going into that HDTV of yours:

Try to spot the Nikon D3’s amongst the sea of Canon. The D3 came out in the middle of the season, so not many Pro’s were going to switch. However, I have noticed that when there used to be ZERO Black lenses along the sidelines, that is not now the case.

To get a feel for the Sports page coverage across the Nation, head over to Sports Designer.com. They’ve got quite a collection of page spreads that have already hit the press and those that are waiting to go….

Popularity: 9% [?]

So the new Canon EOS 40D only comes in two ways:

1. Canon EOS 40D (body only, at Amazon or B&H Photo)
2. 40D dSLR with the EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens (at Amazon or B&H Photo)

You may note that the neither the original EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM, EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM (Amazon, B&H Photo), nor the new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens (Amazon, B&H Photo) are offered as part of a kit package like the 20D or 30D did. Hmmm, maybe Canon will introduce a new EF-S lens or two at PMA. Will Canon finally have an 18-200mm IS to compete with Nikon? At a minimum they need something in the 18-135mm range. We shall see in one month……

Popularity: 11% [?]

The following is part five of a much larger dSLR Dad Holiday Gift Guide:

Honestly, you can’t go wrong with anything from Really Right Stuff. But their new BH-40 Ballhead is that piece of equipment that makes you question why you struggled for so long with that other inferior tripod head you had. It is their mid-sized ballhead and is perfect for popular light to mid-sized gear such as 70-200mm/f2.8 and 300mm/f4 lenses. This ballhead is load-rated at 18-pounds but weighs only 13-ounces.

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Popularity: 9% [?]

The following is part of a much larger dSLR Dad Holiday Gift Guide:

For all of you dSLR Dad’s (or dSLR Dad significant others) I have here the perfect gift idea. A B&H Photo gift card (they start at $20):

For those of you who may not know, B&H is pretty much where all the professionals go for their equipment needs. They have everything, and normally at the best price. There are only two places I purchase my dSLR gear, and that’s Amazon and B&H Photo. Great sites, with great prices, without the hassle.

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Best wishes to all those dSLR Dad’s in the United States.  For all of you dSLR Dad’s in other parts of the world taking the time to read my blog, make today “Big Family Meal Thursday.”

Thanksgiving is my favorite Holiday.  It’s a time to create a large and wonderful meal to share with your Family and Friends. Let today be the day that you take a little extra time and appreciate those around you.  And while you’re at it, snap a few photographs of those around you.

Today’s Holiday Photography Tip:  When you look through the viewfinder, look at what’s behind your Loved One.  If you don’t like the background, change your angle or move to the side.  This is one way to move from a snapshot to a photograph.  This will not only make the background clearer, but also help eliminate the akward piece of furniture sticking out the side of someone’s head.

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Amazon has the Nikon D300 DX 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only) in stock and ready to ship. You can check it out here.

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Rob Galbraith has posted that Canon USA’s customer support is telling Canon EOS 40D customers that there will be an upcoming firmware update. the update is expected to improve incompatibility between CR2 RAW files and Adobe’s Camera Raw plug-in. Expect v1.0.5 firmware to be released the end of November.

You can read more details here.

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Outdoor Photographer magazine’s latest article has twelve tips on how to use Graduated Neutral-Density Filters. You can read the entire article here.

I have an additional tip for you dSLR Dads. When you buy a polarizer, get the biggest filter size you think you will ever use (probably 77mm). Then you can just use a Step-Up Adapter Ring to the 77mm Filter Size on any of your other lenses.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Sure, you may have heard of iStockphoto, the micro-stock photography website with a collection of member-generated royalty-free images that sell for between $1 and $15 per use. But there are many others. If you’ve been thinking of gear some of your photography towards stock to earn a little extra cash, here’s a good article detailing all of the major microstock agencies. It includes the cost of credits and payout to photographers. Just remember, the key for success is volume and listing at multiple sites.

You can read the full article here.

Popularity: 2% [?]

 The LA Times has created a gallery on it’s website entitled Facing the flames.  It is a collection of images by it’s own photographers covering the wildfires in California.  You can view it here. 

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